Disney Recap

As you know, I took an impromptu trip to Walt Disney World over the weekend (hence my lack of blog posts) and it was a blast! I went with my husband and mom and we drove all the way from VA to FL on Thursday night/Friday morning and drove back all day on Monday. Even though we drove, we still had 3 whole days in the parks and got to experience a TON of new stuff!

Since we go to Disney so often, there are good trips and not so good trips (never a bad trip). To us, what makes a trip extra special is seeing all the new additions to the parks and let me tell you, this trip had all that and more!

One thing that has always irritated me was the park tickets. If you didn't have them tied to your room key, they were just pieces of paper. Even annual passholders just got a piece of paper! Disney has spent a lot of time and money integrating a new technology throughout the entire resort called MyMagic+. This allows you to ditch the flimsy paper pass and have a room key type card (much more durable) to use at the entrance of all the parks.

I of course chose Minnie (you have a choice of: Mickey, Minnie, Donald or Goofy)

So with this card, all the parks have removed the bulky turnstiles that always caused a back up at the opening of the parks and other busy hours. Now there are these magical gold posts with no gates or barriers that you walk up to, touch your card to the icon and press your finger to the touch pad. When it lights up green, you are in! I was so fascinated by this for a few reasons. 1) Even during busy times, you could walk right up and be in the park without waiting in a long line. 2) My park ticket is now a worthy souvenir. It always annoyed me that my room key was better quality than the park ticket I spent most of my money on!

Moving on from that, we of course got to ride the Ariel ride in New Fantasyland which you may remember me riding during my quick work trip last fall, but my husband and mom hadn't yet so that was new for them!

I just love this ride! It's a mix of the haunted mansion in regards to how the ride moves, with a little bit of the old Snow White ride in that it tells an abridged version of the story, all mixed together incorporating your favorite Little Mermaid songs!

The area is still being worked on (which isn't always magical when walking through the park) but they're saving the best for last, the new Snow White Mine Roller Coaster!

Then last but definitely NOT least, we rode the NEW Test Track at Epcot! This ride was closed for nearly a year undergoing refurbishments, and the result was awesome! The entire ride got a face lift. The que was completely gutted and re imagined to give it a more hands on feel while the ride track remained the same, the concept and surroundings completely changed. It is now very Tron-like (Disney movie from the 80s that was recently redone a few years back) It's all dark with neon colors and very futuristic. The concept of the ride is to design your own car (while waiting in line) and see how it measures up to all the different cars people designed. Everything is stored on a card that you touch right before you board the ride. My favorite part was after the ride, and taking that same car and doing all sorts of different things with the car you designed. You can make a commercial promoting your unique car, you can race it with others or completely redo the car. I just love how Disney has really embraced technology and is using it everywhere they can.

This was the car we created. You only had 3 minutes and there were so many options! Things got stressful!

I hope you plan a trip soon to see all the new things Disney has to offer. If you haven't been in as little as 5 years, then you will be in for a treat. There are so many new things to experience with your family but don't worry, all the nostalgia remains!